Ferries will reduce crews on most vessels this summer

Washington State Ferries deckhands on the Wenatchee prepare for the boat to dock at Bainbridge Island.
LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN

Washington State Ferries deckhands on the auto ferry Wenatchee prepare for the boat to dock at Bainbridge Island.
LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN

A Washington State Ferries deckhand checks the time schedule on the car deck of the auto ferry Wenatchee as the boat docks on Bainbridge Island.
LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN

SEATTLE - The state ferry system expects to save at least $1 million a year by trimming boat crews this summer.

Washington State Ferries has operated with more vessel staff than the Coast Guard requires. On March 3, 2011, after failing to reach a deal with three unions on new staffing levels, the sides agreed to leave it to the Coast Guard to determine safe and appropriate levels.

The Coast Guard already issues each boat a Certificate of Inspection (COI), which includes minimum manning requirements, owner, vessel description, route, fire gear, life jackets, and car and passenger capacity.

The review was requested Oct. 31. On March 12, the Coast Guard reported that its COI staffing for three vessel classes is satisfactory. As a result, five Issaquah-class ferries, three Evergreen States and two Jumbos will each drop an ordinary seaman from crews. Four Super-class boats, which are two ordinary seamen and an assistant engineer over the minimum, are still under review. Three Mark IIs, three new 64-car ferries and the seldom-used Hiyu are already at the Coast Guard level.

Twenty-seven positions will be shifted from full-time to the on-call pool, said ferries director David Moseley. Ordinary seamen are at the bottom of the pay scale, earning a base salary of about $21 per hour. They help load and unload cars and passengers, and maintain the passenger cabin.

Staffing changes will take effect June 17 with the beginning of the summer season.

Super-class ferries stand to lose 16 assistant engineers, plus however many ordinary seamen the Coast Guard decides, said Tim Saffle, regional representative for Masters, Mates & Pilots. That union's workers won't be reduced, but Saffle said masters and mates are worried crews will be too small to handle emergencies.

"We're not happy with it," Saffle said of the staff reductions. "We had a meeting with the Coast Guard (Wednesday). We have concerns that by reducing the manning by one, all of the duties on the muster list cannot be accomplished."

The unions believed the Coast Guard was reviewing whether current staffing levels are appropriate, not how few crew members ferries could get by with, said Saffle and Dennis Conklin, regional director of the Inlandboatmen's Union. The unions had negotiated to get more people on crews because duties were added through the years, like fighting fires, post-9/11 security and building another deck on five Issaquah-class ferries.

"They're taking all these deckhands off and we'll not have enough people to do all that stuff," Conklin said.

The unions will meet with the Coast Guard again.

"If we don't resolve it here, we'll go to the next level," he said. "Some level in the Coast Guard will care."

Saffle pointed out if somebody's late for work, the boat can't sail if Coast Guard minimums are used. Now, sometimes, there are extra crew aboard so the ferry doesn't have to wait.